ny member, when he
considers it necessary to preserve the dignity of the club.

N. special and particular B. In order that this rule shall not operate
prejudicially to the sovereign rights of individuals, the members of the
club are at liberty to treat the reprimand of the Higholdboy as a good
joke.

8. Any member who shall be absent from any meeting of the club, shall be
liable to stand a half-dozen on the half shell for each of his
fellow-members, unless he gives _no_ previous notice to the club, or any
member thereof, of his prospective absence. Such notice, which he fails
to give, to be either verbal or written, at his own option.

9. These foregoing rules shall in all cases be construed strictly, they
shall never be repealed or amended; and shall be of binding force,
except as hereinafter provided in the

ORDER OF BUSINESS.

1. The Higholdboy shall announce the suspension of all rules for three
months.

At the conclusion, Mr. Spout, in a solemn tone, addressed the party.

"Gentleman," said he, "I am aware that the rules, which I have prepared
and submitted, are stringent in the extreme, but I think they will be
found, on examination, to be no more so than is essential to secure that
unanimity of action so indispensable to the accomplishment of any great
end. Believing, then, that you fully appreciate the importance of the
end we have in view, I trust they will meet with your approval.
Gentlemen, I give way to others."

Mr. Spout took his seat, amid manifestations of the approval of his
associates.

Mr. Boggs was the first to speak on the subject of the rules.

"Gentlemen," said he, "unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, and
overpowered as I feel at the present moment, I should do injustice to my
own feelings, did I fail to endorse the excellence of the rules
reported by my friend Spout, and to give my unqualified adhesion, in
accordance with the spirit which pervades them."

[Illustration]

Mr. Dropper said that he had but one fault to find. He was by nature
fond of resisting all rules, the idea of which he had always associated
with a restriction of individual liberty. The rules proposed by Mr.
Spout contemplated no restriction. They were so nice an adjustment of
the relations between the governor and the governed that he could not
find it in his heart to resist them. Hence he would be debarred his
usual gratification of combatting them. Still he was willing to give
them a trial.

Mr. Quacke